In this post, I’m going to be talking about the best nutritional strategies to lose weight…

In other words, the best foods and ways to eat for weight loss, and to begin with, it all comes down to how much weight you want to lose in what time period.

For example, the best foods and ways to eat for somebody who is only trying to lose a few pounds over 12 weeks are going to be very different to somebody who is trying to lose several pounds over only a few short weeks.

One is more challenging than the other and therefore will require a different amount of sacrifice, a different way of eating, and also a different type of diet to be more effective than the other diet.

So, to avoid confusion, let’s just say you want to lose the most amount of weight in the least amount of time as possible.

In that case, there are only two things that are the best (nutritionally) for losing the most amount of weight naturally in the shortest amount of time possible.

Get your body into a calorie deficit

Only consume natural, wholesome, healthy foods.

Get your body into a calorie deficit

In order to lose weight, we need to get our bodies into a calorie deficit.

This is where your body is operating on a shortage of calories relative to the amount of calories required to maintain your current body weight.

For example, if your body requires 2000 calories per day to maintain its current body weight, then anything consumed less than 2000 calories over the day will mean that your body is in a calorie deficit – such as only consuming 1600 calories per day.

A calorie deficit can be created in one of three ways:

By reducing the amount of calories you put into your body, either by making healthier food choices or by reducing the amount of foods and drinks you consume throughout the day. This can be summed up as, “consume fewer calories.”

By increasing the amount of calories you burn throughout the day by moving your body more, normally done by doing or increasing exercise. This can be summed up as, “burn more calories.”

By consuming fewer calories AND burning more calories simultaneously (typically the best way).

The reason options number three is typically the best way is because most people find it very difficult losing weight by either consuming fewer calories or burning more calories alone.

Only consuming fewer calories means that you’re only making better food choices to help you lose weight.

And only burning more calories means that you’re only exercising more to lose weight.

In regards to only consuming fewer calories, normally by making better food choices and/or consuming fewer amounts, it’s actually quite achievable for most people to do this and stick with it for a decent amount of time to start seeing results.

But, most people who make healthier food choices tend to find an increased amount of energy, vitality, and stamina that they physically want to do more anyway – such as exercise more, play with the kids, hang out with friends, participate in sports etc.

In regards to losing weight by only increasing the amount of calories you burn throughout the day by moving your body more, this is a bit more difficult to as it actually requires a lot of physical activity to burn a lot of calories.

For example, if you weigh 70kg (154lb) and you run for 30 minutes at a fairly moderate pace of 8 kph = 7.5 min km (5mph = 12 min mile) then you will only burn 280 calories, which is the equivalent of burning an apple with peanut butter which is what most people have for a snack. Quite a lot of work just to burn a snack.

So, the best way of getting your body into a calorie deficit is normally through a combination of both making better, healthier food choices AND by also doing or increasing your physical activity.

As I said, in this post, I’m just going to be talking about the best food choices to lose the most amount of weight in the least amount of time.

And in the next post, I’ll talk about the best types of physical activity to do (exercises, workouts, sports etc.) and how you can increase your calorie expenditure.

So getting your body into a calorie deficit by making better, healthier food choices AND by doing or increasing your physical activity is the first best thing you can do in order to start losing weight quickly.

Once you know how to do this, then you just need to do it.

Again, in regards to your nutrition, I’ll show you how in this post. But in regards to exercise, I’ll talk about it in the next.

And in regards to your nutrition, there are 3 only 3 ways you can get your body into a calorie deficit.

Make healthier food choices

Consume less food

A combination of both (normally the best)

Only consume natural, wholesome, healthy foods

As we’ve discovered, the first thing we want to do nutritionally in order to lose weight is that we want to get our bodies into a calorie deficit.

Why?

Because this allows your body to lose weight.

You can’t lose weight if you’re constantly eating more than you burn so we need to first make sure we’re consuming less food than we burn.

And the way we do that is by:

Making healthier food choices.

Consuming less food.

Making healthier foods choices AND consuming less food. A combination of both (normally the best)

Making healthier food choices:

If you don’t have the best of diets, or your diet is mostly made up of foods high in sugar, high in fats, carbohydrates and more, then you can begin to consume fewer calories simply by making healthier food choices.

For example, if you currently have a lot of takeaways, candy, sodas, and chocolate, simply changing those options to foods such as salads, fruits, vegetables, teas, water, nuts and seeds – simply changing your food choices to things that “grow out of the ground or run around” will make a dramatic difference in your weight.

And the reason for this is because healthier foods like vegetables, fruits, beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds generally tend to have fewer calories than highly refined, processed foods like takeaways, candy, sodas, and chocolate.

As well as that, they’re also better for your body because unlike takeaways, candy, sodas, and chocolate etc. – healthy foods actually help your body burn fat instead of storing it. They contain vitamins, minerals, and nutrients which have a range of benefits for your body which ultimately leads to you losing weight as opposed to storing it like unhealthy foods will do to you.

Consuming less food

Now, if your diet is quite unhealthy then just by consuming less food can actually work in your favor.

Many people have done this and many people have lost weight by doing this alone.

And he was able to do this because although he was consuming nutritionally poor foods, he was only consuming an amount that still allowed his body to lose weight.

For example, to maintain his weight, he would normally have to consume around 2600 calorie per day. However, on this “Twinkie Diet”, he only allowed himself to consume 1800 calories per day which is well below the amount of calories his body needed to maintain weight.

This significant calorie deficit allowed not only allowed him to consume delicious foods, but it also allowed him to lose weight in the process as well.

And you can do the same thing.

A combination of both (normally the best)

Now, although you can consume delicious foods and lose weight at the same time, I usually recommend making healthier food choices AND consuming fewer foods because healthier foods are just much better for you.

They provide a lot more health benefits, they deliver faster results, and they’re just overall the better food options to go with.

So, to lose weight, nutritionally you should only eat foods that natural, wholesome and healthy. These foods are things such as:

Vegetables

Fruits

Beans

Legumes

Nuts

Seed

Meats (optional)

Dairy (optional)

Poultry (optional)

If you want to lose weight naturally as fast as possible, then by only consuming the foods above, and by consuming them in the right quantities that will allow your body to get into a calorie deficit, you should lose weight quickly.

To figure out how much you should be eating per week in order to lose weight, just click here sign up to my 3-part video training series which will take you over the 3 components of weight-loss, which is mindset, nutrition, and exercise.

In this video training series, you will discover how much food you should be eating per day in order lose weight, and how you can track and measure the amounts of foods you’re consuming on a daily basis so you can finally step on the scale and see your weight drop.